CD Projekt Red estimates Cyberpunk sold over 13 million copies in 2077 despite being a potato on consoles

After a week of refunds, apologies, and patches, CD Projekt Red announced yesterday that it was an open world scifi RPG Cyberpunk 2077 Even so, a total of over 13 million copies have been sold since it was released on December 10th. This is despite the game’s poor performance on last generation consoles and some low-end PCs as well as the supposedly Overtime working conditions

that made it.

“[CDPR] It is hereby announced that, based on reports obtained from digital distribution platforms and data collected from physical distributors, it is estimated that players have purchased over 13 million copies of Cyberpunk 2077 as of December 20th, ” wrote the company in a declaration to the investors

. “This number represents the estimated volume of retail sales on all hardware platforms (taking into account the returns submitted by retail customers both in the stationary and in the digital area), ie the number” sell-through “minus all reimbursement requests “Help Me Refund” campaign sent directly to the company. “

Close readers will recognize some apparent caveats in this announcement, the largest being that the 13 million figure appears to be more of an estimate than based solely on actual sales data. The statement also states that it is total sales minus any refunds requested. However, it’s not clear if this reflects the bulk of all refunds or just those that retailers have had time to report on. CDPR did not immediately respond to a request for comment to clarify its remarks.

CDPR first apologized for the state of play on December 14th, suggesting who was disappointed how Cyberpunk 2077 could get a refund. This proved difficultHowever, since Sony and Microsoft’s digital storefronts do not necessarily allow refunds for games that have already been played. Until December 17th, Sony had pulled the game from the PlayStation Store altogetherGuarantee refunds across the board. This no questions asked refund option expanded quickly also on the Microsoft platform, followed by CDPR itself and even retailers like Best Buy. Earlier this week Kotaku reported that even GameStop saves were asked to reimburse Cyberpunk 2077 Customers, even if they had already opened and played the game.

In this context, 13 million doesn’t sound bad at all for a game to launch The New York Times recently called “One of the most visible disasters in video game history.” Just before the game was released, CDPR announced that it had been pre-ordered 8 million timesand on December 11th reported that pre-orders alone already had allowed breakeven on the game’s development and marketing costs. Five million more sales since launch for a game whose litany of glitches went viral and whose console version currently has under a 60 on Metacritic is more than most games will ever sell. For comparison: Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order several months to reach 10 million copies sold.

Still, there are apparently not as many sales as shareholders were hoping for. Bloomberg Reports CDPR stock fell 3.7% after the news, an overall drop of 42% from its high earlier in the month.